#3 anchor my balloons

I'm now in the refining and narrowing stage of picking my research topic. So briefly, here is what I've got:

Topic: What are the rationals that students give for turning in or not turning in their homework, and, does the class atmosphere at the actual time of assignment and collection effect the amount of homework that gets turned in?

Subjects: 2 groups from 2 of the classes that I'll be observing, 1 classified as steady homework-turner-inners, and the other classified as pretty consistent NON homework-turner-inners (8 groups total).

Measrues/Procedures: I would like to do some sort of written survey amongst the two groups, and I would like to do group interviews with the two groups as well (would this be a "focus group" or a "talk-aloud"?) I would also like to observe student and teacher behavior at the time of homework assignment and collection.

Hopefully I will find some insight that will enable me to steer attitudes about homework in a direction that will encourage the most turn-in of assignments.

I really like the idea of using different types of research and data collection (quantitative: survey/qualitative: observation, interview). I think my next step is deciding on my operational definitions and really fine tuning my procedures.

As for what we've been going over in class, I have obviously been more interested in learning about qualitative research because I understand it better and it's just more Lia. I have though, realized the importance of quantitative data and how it can serve as an anchor when you feel that all your qualitative data is just kind of floating all around you like balloons.